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First Postpubertal Same-Sex Sex in Kinsey’s General and Prison Male Same-Sex Samples: Comparative Analysis and Testing Common Assumptions in Minor–Adult Contacts

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Abstract

Kinsey’s prison male same-sex sample (consisting of prisoners who were gay, bisexual, or had had extensive postpubertal same-sex sex regardless of sexual attractions) was compared with Kinsey’s general (i.e., non-prison) same-sex sample (previously analyzed by Rind and Welter, 2016) in terms of reactions to and characteristics of first postpubertal same-sex sex, with a focus on minor–adult contacts. Prison participants had a minor–adult contact as their first postpubertal same-sex sex twice as often as general participants, and their experience involved penetration in three-quarters of cases compared to only half the time for general participants, and it was paid for (i.e., prostitution) three times as often. Despite these differences, reactions to these events by prison and general participants were the same, with combined results of 66% positive reactions (i.e., enjoyed it “much”) versus 15% emotionally negative reactions (e.g., shock, disgust, guilt). Results added to those from a series of studies done since 2000 using male same-sex samples in showing that minor–adult same-sex sexual experiences in this population do not conform to the child sexual abuse (CSA) model of trauma and harm. Comparing prison and general participants also showed that the CSA–trauma–crime link often claimed (i.e., where minor–adult sex is said to produce trauma that leads to later criminal behavior) did not hold in the Kinsey same-sex samples, because trauma (the middle element) was mostly missing. This null result for the link alerts that trauma needs to be shown rather than assumed when considering this link. The positive reaction profile obtained was discussed in terms of cultural factors dominant in Kinsey’s time.

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Notes

  1. For details on these points, see the discussions below later in Introduction and then in Discussion, as well in Rind and Welter (2016).

  2. That is, if trauma is intrinsic to minor–adult sex, as has often been claimed in the CSA literature (Clancy, 2009), then any sample is useful for testing this universal proposition, especially one with the qualities of the Kinsey sample.

  3. Excluded cases in both same-sex samples combined included n = 14 cases of minor participants with much younger minor partners (i.e., 5 or more years younger) and n = 15 cases of adult participants with much younger minor partners (i.e., 5 or more years younger).

  4. For the same-sex samples combined, 96.2% of partners were also minors, with 3.8% being young adults within 4 years of age.

  5. For the same-sex samples combined, 93.4% of partners were adults, with 6.6% being other minors who were older by 5 or more years.

  6. For the same-sex samples combined, 95% of partners were also adults, with 5% being older minors within 4 years of age (here, participants were aged 18 or 19 and partners were mostly aged 17).

  7. Contrasts in the 4 age groups were, in order: χ2(1) = .51, 2.15, .00, and .01 (ps > .10).

  8. Contrasts in the 4 age groups were, in order: χ2(1) = 7.43, .04, .10, and 1.25 (p < .01 and then ps > .10).

  9. Contrasts in the 6 age-difference categories, were, in order: χ2(1) = .26, .65, .21, .25, 3.75, and .69 (ps > .10, except 5th category, where p = .06).

  10. Contrasts in the 6 age-difference categories, were, in order: χ2(1) = 1.45, 1.94, 1.08, .03, .48, 2.34 (ps > .10).

  11. Contrasts in the 6 age-difference categories, were, in order: χ2(1) = 1.66, .02, .55, .00, .06, .04 (ps > .10).

  12. Contrasts in the 6 age-difference categories, were, in order: χ2(1) = .00, 3.01, 1.01, .27, 1.40, and .02 (ps > .10).

  13. Contrasts in the 7 exact-age categories, were, in order: χ2(1) = .13, 2.18, 5.84, 5.36, .26, .07, .03 (ps > .10, except 3rd and 4th categories, where ps = .02).

  14. Contrasts in the 7 exact-age categories, were, in order: χ2(1) = 4.73, 1.83, .85, 2.28, .31, .29, .06 (ps > .10, except 1st category, where p = .096).

  15. Contrasts in the 7 exact-age categories, were, in order: χ2(1) = .68, 6.54, .01, 1.65, 4.27, 2.08, and .02 (ps > .10, except 2nd and 5th categories 2–4, where p < .05).

  16. Contrasts in the 7 exact-age categories, were, in order: χ2(1) = .09, 3.46, .08, 1.20, .63, .24, and .07 (ps > .10).

  17. Note that Rind and Welter (2016) only compared outercourse and intercourse; here the latter was divided into oral and anal.

  18. The genetic-evolutionary perspective, recently gaining within criminology, also offers important alternative explanations for the CSA–crime link (e.g., Barnes, Boutwell, Beaver, Gibson, & Wright, 2014; Barnes, Boutwell, & Beaver, 2016; Ferguson, 2010; Fox, 2017). This view emphasizes that mainstream psychological and criminological research has focused too heavily on social-environmental causes of antisocial (and other) behavior, at the expense of genetic-evolutionary considerations. Numerous recent meta-analyses, however, have demonstrated a greater contribution of genetic (i.e., heritable) sources to antisocial behavior than shared- or unique-environmental sources. In this view, child maltreatment, including CSA, may emerge from genetic factors (which bias exposure to social-environmental experiences such as child maltreatment), and as such may be only correlated with rather than causative of later antisocial behavior.

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    Bruce Rind

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Correspondence to Bruce Rind.

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There were no conflicts of interest, and the research is secondary research on Kinsey data, so informed consent was not an issue.

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Rind, B. First Postpubertal Same-Sex Sex in Kinsey’s General and Prison Male Same-Sex Samples: Comparative Analysis and Testing Common Assumptions in Minor–Adult Contacts. Arch Sex Behav 48, 1239–1259 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-018-1196-5

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